Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian on Thursday reiterated that his country’s nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, saying that the world has already come to the understanding that the Islamic Republic seeks peace and security across the globe.
Pezeshkian made the comments as he hosted Rafael Grossi, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), who arrived in Tehran on Wednesday night for talks over Iran’s nuclear energy program.
The Iranian president said that his country does not seek nuclear weapons, and this is the basic and unchanged stance of the Islamic Republic.
“As we have repeatedly said we have never been and will never be seeking nuclear weapons, based on a fatwa by the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution”, Pezeshkian said in reference to a religious decree issued by Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, adding that no one is allowed to defy the Leader’s policy.
The president further said that what Iran is seeking in nuclear technology is in accordance with the IAEA’s legal framework and permission as well as the rights considered by the agency for other countries.
Based on that, he added, Iran is ready to cooperate with the IAEA to resolve ambiguities over its peaceful nuclear program.
“As we have previously and repeatedly shown our goodwill, we announce our readiness to cooperate and align with this international body to resolve alleged ambiguities over our country's peaceful nuclear activities, although the world has also come to the belief that Iran seeks global peace and security”, President Pezeshkian said.
Further in his remarks, the president spoke about the 2015 Iran nuclear deal officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or the JCPOA.
He said that Iran lived up to all of its commitments under the agreement, and this was also confirmed by the IAEA. But it was the United States that failed to commit to its obligations by unilaterally withdrawing from the JCPOA.
Pezeshkian also referred to the failure by the European parties to the JCPOA to live up to their commitments, as they failed to compensate for the US pullout.
Also in his remarks, the Iranian president referred to the ongoing Israeli wars on Gaza and Lebanon and the regime’s acts of aggression against Iran, saying that the Zionist regime has violated all international regulations by killing women and children and attacking residential areas as well as schools and hospitals.
Despite all those crimes, the regime is supported and armed by the countries that claim to be defenders of human rights, Pezeshkian said, stressing that people across the world expect those countries and international organizations to play an active role to stop the Zionist crimes.
“We believe that war does not benefit us, the region and the world. No wise man seeks warmongering and the spread of war. But we will definitely